Lady Banks' Commonplace Book

Is that a poem in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

Dearest Readers,

In recognition that the month of April is a time to celebrate the poet and the poem, her ladyship originally intended to write her monthly newsletter in verse.  This happy thought, it will give readers great relief to hear, did not survive the first few attempts. The resultant doggerel, alas, sounded somewhat less like Whitman and somewhat more like Lear—only without Lear’s wit, rhythm, sense of style, masterful turn of phrase, or (it goes without saying) ability to rhyme even the simplest of words.

But her ladyship’s inability to produce a poem has in no way diminished her very great pleasure in the reading of them, and she finds herself continually delighted by the many forms of celebration of the genre that manifest during this month. This year The Academy of American Poets has encouraged Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 17th, and her ladyship knows of at least two bookstores that are participating: Inkwood Books (Tampa, FL) and Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh, NC.  Her ladyship finds the notion of thousands of pockets of thousands of people  stuffed with crumpled bits of paper scribbled with verses somewhat disarming.  She would love to participate herself, but alas, her ladyship does not wear anything with pockets.  If she did, they would be filled with copies of this poem, a favorite of hers in these troubling times.  To encourage her readers to fill their own pockets, she has included another favorite at the end of this newsletter, excerpted from one of the many fine volumes of poetry found upon the list of 2008 SIBA Book Award Nominees. She hopes it will give you joy.

Her ladyship, the editor

Authors 'Round the South

Authors Round the South is the home of one of the most extensive listings of literary events in the South, including author readings & appearances, book club meetings, book & literary festivals, open mics, poetry slams and writing groups. No matter what part of the South you live in, you can find a bookstore and author appearance near you!

Landscape Fear & Love Louise Morgan Runyon Wordsmiths Books

Drawing the Line at the Big Ditch Adam Clymer Wordsmiths Books
Making My Mark Marvin S. Arrington, Sr. Wordsmiths Books

A Conversation with Dorothea Benton Frank, Bulls Island Dorothea Benton Frank Litchfield Books

Elizabeth Kostova Reading The Historian Elizabeth Kostova Pomegranate Books
Angels, Thieves & Winemakers Joseph Mills Malaprop's Bookstore & Café
Beth Ann Fennelly Reading & Reception  Unmentionables Beth Ann Fennelly Nightbird Books
 Any Blonde Can Cook Debbie Thornton Windows a bookshop
Pauline Frommers Travel Guides Pauline Frommer Wordsmiths Books
Beanball Gene Fehler Fiction Addiction
 John Brandon Reading & Reception Arkansas John Brandon Nightbird Books
Murder Mystery Night at Malaprop's! And Murder for Dessert Kathleen Delaney Malaprop's Bookstore & Café
 Murder Mystery Night at Malaprop's!  The Anatomists Hal McDonald Malaprop's Bookstore & Café
Santi: Lives of Modern Saints Luca Dipierro, N. Frank Daniels, Rachel Bradley & Danni Iosello Wordsmiths Books

Native Cherokee Storyteller LLoyd Arneach  Long Ago Stories of the Eastern Cherokee Lloyd Arneach Malaprop's Bookstore & Café
Arkansas John Brandon Wordsmiths Books
 Charleys Columbia Backyard Caroline Bennett Burry Bookstore
 Slavery by Another Name Douglas A. Blackmon Wordsmiths Books
How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk Holly Kenney Pomegranate Books
The Cure for Modern Life Lisa Tucker Wordsmiths Books

Edith Wharton Hermione Lee Wordsmiths Books
The Memory of Water Karen White Litchfield Books

Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Du Bill McKibben Quail Ridge Books & Music

Ellen Gilchrist Reading & Reception  A Dangerous Age Ellen Gilchrist Nightbird Books
Bulls Island Dorothea Benton Frank Malaprop's Bookstore & Café
 In the Shadows of Chimney Rock Rose Senehi Malaprop's Bookstore & Café
Author and PETA Vice-President Dan Mathews Committed Dan Mathews Malaprop's Bookstore & Café
Murder Creek / In a Temple of the Trees Joe Formichella & Suzanne Hudson Wordsmiths Books
 Bad Money Kevin Phillips Wordsmiths Books
 Bicycing with Jim Joyce and Others!  The Bicycle   Wit, Wisdom & Wanderings Jim Joyce Malaprop's Bookstore & Café
Townsend Prize for Fiction Award Ceremony Wordsmiths Books

Pilgrims Upon the Earth Brad Land Pomegranate Books
 The One Minute Assassin Troy Cook Windows a bookshop
Re-opening the Green Door, A WORDFEST Retrospective Landscape Fear & Love Malaprop's Bookstore & Café
Crux Tamara Madison Wordsmiths Books
You Want Fries with That? Prioleau Alexander Malaprop's Bookstore & Café
Shreveport Sounds in Black and White Kip Lornell Windows a bookshop
Fifteen Minutes of Shame Lisa Daily Wordsmiths Books
The Leper Compound Paula Nangle Malaprop's Bookstore & Café
Finding Angela Shelton Angela Shelton Malaprop's Bookstore & Café
BBQ Joints David Gelin Wordsmiths Books
Scottsboro Ellen Feldman Wordsmiths Books

Girls in Trucks Katie Crouch Wordsmiths Books
Your Child's Strengths Jenifer Fox Wordsmiths Books
Two Plus Ten Unforgettable Tales N. Frances Warner Burry Bookstore

The Body in the Gallery Katherine Hall Page Litchfield Books
At Home Cafe Helen Puckett DeFrance Wordsmiths Books

 Food 2.0 Charlie Ayers Wordsmiths Books
The Wedding Machine / Trouble the Water Beth Webb Hart & Nicole Seitz Wordsmiths Books
 Sisters Grimm Series Michael Buckley Little Shop of Stories

The Grasshopper's Song Nikki Giovanni Little Shop of Stories

Main Street series Ann Martin Scott's Bookstore
Honey, There's a Cat in the Freezer Cathy Lee Phillips Scott's Bookstore

OTHER BOOKSTORE EVENTS
Book Club Evening with Beth Webb Hart and Nicole Seitz  Wordsmiths Books
University in the Library Series - James Joyce William Chace Wordsmiths Books
The Raw Shark Texts / Music Performance Steven Hall with Blue Screen Love Scene Wordsmiths Books
Open Mic Night Wordsmiths Books
Poetry Reading Tamara Madison Wordsmiths Books
Poetry Atlanta Presents Beth Gylys, Khadijah Queen, James Iredell Wordsmiths Books
A Presentation for 3 SC Poetry Book Prize winners  Litchfield Books
Other Covered Bridges Conference  Alabama Booksmith
Second Sundays with Working Title Playwrights  Wordsmiths Books

Book Festivals & Special Events:

Thursday, April 10, 2008   12:00 noon  
Spring Literary Festival
University Center Theatre  Western Carolina University
As part of WCU’s 6th annual Spring Literary Festival, Western NC’s Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet, Cathy Smith Bowers will read with North Iredell Middle School student Haley Jones, Watauga High School student Tom Lambert, and Western Carolina University student Caleb Beissert. For more information, visit http://www.litfestival.org.

Saturday April 12, 2008

Walking into April Poetry Day
 The Sam and Marjorie Ragan Writing Center, Barton College - Wilson, NC

Featured Poets are Pat Riviere-Seel and David Manning, who will read from their work and lead a roundtable discussion on "The Use of Humor in Serious Poetry."  Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet for the East Lenard Moore and student poets Sandra E. Adams, Candice Johnson, and Andy Rajski will read in the afternoon. The event is free and open to the public.  To reserve lunch, send $9.00 (check payable to Barton College) to Rebecca Godwin, Department of English and Modern Languages, Barton College, Box 5000, Wilson, NC 27893.  For more information, contact Rebecca at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or (252) 399-6364. For driving directions, go to www.barton.edu.

Saturday, April 19 2008, 8:00am - 5:00pm
Southern Kentucky Book Fest
Bowling Green, Kentucky http://www.sokybookfest.org/

Saturday, April 19 – Sunday, April 20
2008 Agnes Dixon: A Baker's Dozen Literary Festival
RCPL’s annual storytelling festival, cosponsored by the University of South Carolina School of Library and Information Science, brings to life the world of storytelling and children’s literature. The festival honors the works and achievements of nationally known author and storyteller Augusta Baker, who moved to Columbia in 1980 and was appointed the Storyteller-in-Residence at USC.

2008 A(ugusta) Baker’s Dozen: Walter Wick, photographer of Scholastic’s highly acclaimed I Spy series, will be the featured guest for the 22nd annual A(ugusta) Baker's Dozen - A Celebration of Stories on April 18-19 at the Main Library. The two-day festival, sponsored by RCPL and the USC School of Library and Information Science, honors nationally known author and storyteller Augusta Baker and continues her legacy of inspiring others to introduce children to the magic of literature and stories. Information:  803-929-3474.

Wednesday, April 23 – Saturday,  April 26
Southeastern Literary Magazine and Small Press Festival
Save the dates for the Second Annual Southeastern Literary Magazine and Small Press Festival on Wednesday, April 23rd, through Friday, April 25th, to be followed by the all-day North Carolina Writers Network Spring Conference on April 26th. The events, scheduled to take place in the UNCG Elliott Center, will include poetry and fiction readings, a book fair, panel discussions, and workshops. More information also is currently online at the UNCG MFA program website, at www.mfagreensboro.org.

April 24-26: The 21st Annual Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Society Conference
The 21st Annual Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Society Conference featuring at least two days of lectures and demonstrations of literary or historic interest will be held APRIL 24 - 26, 2008 in Asheville, North Carolina.  Although usually identified with Florida Cracker country in the scrub woods near Gainesville Marjorie did spend time away from the Florida heat in the mountains around Asheville.
The featured speaker for this year's conference will be award winning Ron Rash. 
 For more information on the Conference and the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Society go to www.marjoriekinnanrawlings.udf.edu. 

Saturday, April 26 2008, 8:00am - 5:00pm
Jamestown Writers and Readers Festival at the Jamestown Public Library
http://www.jamestownlibrary.info

May 2- 4: Atlanta Thriller Book Fest aka “Killer Weekend!”
Eagle Eye Book Shop in Decatur, GA is proud to announce the first annual Atlanta Thriller Book Fest, to be held May 2nd through May 4th.  Headlining the event will be Ridley Pearson. The Atlanta Thriller Book Fest, a.k.a. "Killer Weekend", is being staged at three locations around the greater Atlanta area and includes the following nationally known authors: Sallie Bissell, David Fulmer, Robert Greer, Jeff Long, Gregg Loomis, Philip Nutman, James Sheehan, Walter Sorrells, Patricia Sprinkle, and Jaclyn Weldon White. For more information: EAGLE EYE BOOKSHOP | 2076 N.Decatur Rd |Decatur Ga. 30033 | 404-486-0307

AUTHOR 2 AUTHOR: Kerry Madden
Interview by Karen Zacharias

With her high-top tennis shoes, dark leotards, brightly-colored dresses, wavy hair, and oversized glasses, author Kerry Madden looks like a charming storybook character who has mastered the secret of how to jump off the page and become a real girl. Madden does that with her writing, too -- makes it jump off the page, and brings her characters to life.  

Set in the Smoky Mountains, Madden's ever-popular Maggie Valley trilogy , Gentle's Holler (2005), Louisiana's Song (2007) and the newly- released Jessie's Mountain (2008) is capturing the hearts of young readers in much the same fashion as Christy did for a previous generation.

Kerry Madden takes a moment to visit with author Karen Spears Zacharias about the fictional Weems family and raising her own Los Angeles-based brood on old mountain values:  

Q: Your maiden name --  Madden -- means you often get confused as the daughter of legendary Coach John Madden. Can you share one of the embarrassing encounters you've had due to that last name?

The most embarrassing encounter was being invited to speak at a fancy fundraiser luncheon for something, and EVERYBODY thought John Madden's daughter was speaking.  I only realized it when I got to the luncheon, and people were asking why I didn't have John Madden on my website. Wasn't I proud of my father? I was mortified. Very nice ladies came up again and again to tell me how much they liked my father. I began my speech that day, "I am not John Madden's Daughter," and that was the catalyst for writing the essay that ran in the LA TIMES.

Q: Your first YA book dealt with issues you experienced growing up the daughter of a coach.  Where did you stumble across the Weems family?

As I kid growing up in college football, I drew mountains and pictures of large families.  Then I met a man, Kiffen Lunsford,  from a family of thirteen children with deep roots in the mountains of Western North Carolina. I knew if I married him I'd never run out of stories.  We spent our first year of marriage living in Ningbo, China. The University of Tennessee helped us get jobs teaching English. It was a great adventure. 

Q: Tell us more about your husband, Kiffen. Where does he fall in the family? Where did the two of you meet? Do you pump information from the Kiffen-well to incorporate in your stories? 

Kiffen, a math coach, calls himself "the fulcrum" - six older, six younger.  We met doing theatre at the University of Tennessee. He played a policeman who worked nights in one of my first plays. He advised me about gardens and constellations, and he did know a carpenter in Middle Tennessee called "Marvin the Mennonite," and his daddy was a musician who sold baby food and encyclopedias. I tried to imagine what it was like for him to grow up one of twelve children, but I also tried to stay away from the sacred family lore. One sister told me, "Our holler was anything but gentle."

Q: You've raised up your own brood of talented children -- from your musically gifted Flannery, to your artistic Lucy, and your visionary, Norah. How did you go about cultivating an interest in the arts as a mother, and a writer?
I had a cousin who told me when I became a mother that I'd never go to the movies or see plays again. The cousin meant well, but I would have none of her advice. Kiffen and I both wanted the children raised on art, music, theatre, films, and sports (kind of in that order)...We encouraged them to find things they loved and cared about, and we showed them things we loved too. Of course, I overdid it now and again. I rented THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL a few too many times, and finally one of them shrieked, "NOT THE OLD LADY WHO TAKES THE BUS AGAIN!"  

Q: You've got one of the most interactive websites. You are constantly getting stories, poems, lyrics from your young readers. What do you like most about this sort of forum? And however do you find the time to read all those entries?

In my writing workshops with kids, I really encourage them to get messy and write their stories. I want them to write about what they love and care about, and so they write stories of the perfect baseball pitch, sitting on a rooftop eating a bowl of macaroni & cheese, bragging over a catching bass fish. I love inviting the students to be "The Writer of the Day." I used to type up student entries, but now they have to email me their stories, so it's not nearly as time-consuming. One student wrote a Frida Kahlo haiku about her "one-eyebrow," which was funny. Another wrote about watching her mother feed her grandmother Cream of Wheat for supper, and it was so beautiful. You get these magic moments in writing workshops with kids.

Q: You are in high-demand as a workshop instructor for teaching kids writing. Do you think in our mandated rush to leave no child behind, we've left behind the arts in the public school system?

Educators are struggling to redesign assessments that better reflect a broader array of the child's experience, but the writing prompts and the rubrics to score them don't encourage any kind of passion, creativity, or spontaneity. Yet the teachers are tied to the prompts in the name of testing and standardized assessments. Kiffen is actually writing a thesis on how comprehensive arts programs raise community awareness about the value of the arts in at-risk schools. He's been a teacher in Los Angeles for 20 years now.
Q: This latest story, Jessie's Mountain, is a collaborative family effort. Tell us how that came about.

Actually, Norah inspired Caroline in all three novels, and Flannery edited/advised me on the songs in all three novels. When I was writing Jessie's Mountain, I weaved in Mama's diary from the 1940s, and Jessie loves birds and is always drawing them...I asked my editor if we could have drawings of birds in her diary. It wasn't planned but it just made sense...I showed her samples of Lucy's drawings, and she said yes...From the beginning, my kids have always read chapters and have never been afraid to tell me when it's boring. And I'd go back and revise...
Q: Is Livy-Two fashioned after the young Kerry Madden?

I guess I do have little bits of Livy Two - I wanted adventure and escape (mostly from football), and I loved books. But I really imagined my sister-in-law, Tomi Lunsford, a singer-songwriter in Nashville, growing up as a little girl, writing her songs.

Q: Your stories have been likened to the escapades of the former Walton Clan, from the John Boy days.  You live in Los Angeles, yet you write about mountain people from a different, simpler life. Is this your attempt to get back to what grounds us?

I was missing the mountains when I started writing GENTLE'S HOLLER. So much of the writing life in Los Angeles can be about pitches, movie deals, pilots, and studio execs asking about "emotional arcs" from speaker phones in New York. I even have a friend who calls his local coffee shop "Cafe Failure" because it's filled with so many meetings and laptops. It can kill your soul after a while.  I decided I wanted/needed to write about a family that I loved and cared about, and I thought about writers who gave me so much - Betty Smith, Lois Lowry, Catherine Marshall, Lee Smith, Harper Lee, Fannie Flagg, Donna Tartt...I could go on and on...Before Gentle's Holler, I was also ghostwriting and writing awful shadow soaps, and I was losing heart...I needed to write a story about a family that loved each other. They fought and bickered, but they loved each other...I had to get back to that.

Q:  How is it today's tech-savvy kids find anything to relate to in your books? Did editors find your stories naive or parochial? If so, how did you convince them otherwise?

Editors didn't find them parochial, but they did find the early drafts clichéd and unsurprising. And they were right. So then, I wrote a very dark and sad draft, and my agent found it too depressing - could I instill hope, please? An editor suggested the same thing.  I did and it was accepted by Viking Children's Books. As for relating to the story, kids are kids, and they have fights with their siblings and swipe the last piece of pie and sneak off to hide in trees or under beds. They get into trouble at school or get mad at their grandmothers. I think they find they're much more like the Weems' kids even in a world of I-Pod shuffles and X-Boxes.

Q: When you were growing up, who was your favorite literary character and why? 

Francie Nolan from A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, and Christy from Catherine Marshall. I related to Francie more than any other character. I felt like I understood her, and I almost believed she was real. I could imagine Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I also loved Christy. It was the first time I saw "Knoxville" mentioned in a novel, and I was shocked because I lived in that town then. It was also about the mountains...But definitely those two...

Q: What is the hardest part about writing for a young audience? And how do you deal with that?

When I come to a grinding halt plot-wise, (one of my fortes) I usually write an essay. It's a different form, and it frees me up from whatever is stopping me in the novel. I go for long walks with the dogs and try to imagine what a kid would do...
 
Q: What is your writing process? Do you write at a designated time everyday? Tell us how you find the time to write while raising a family in the hectic life of LA.
I usually write while the kids are in school, and I try to write most of the school day. Though this rarely happens, I love to go away to write. I find being away from the distraction of home can be so freeing to make a great start on a first draft. I wrote two of the Maggie Valley novels that one. I also try to get back to the mountains and to the South...I miss it. 
 
For more information check out kerrymadden.com  

Southern Author Blogs

A Good Blog is Hard to Find: Mary Ann Saums (whose book Thistle & Twigg is among the books nominated for best fiction in the SIBA Book Awards) on reasons not to write: “It's mighty hard to concentrate when there's a turtle in your basement. . .”

Baby Got Books: BGB Reading Series (Volume 3) is coming up at Wordsmiths Books and has the coolest poster. 

The Pulpwood Queens Book Club has chosen their next book to discuss: Mermaids in the Basement by Michael Lee West.  They have posted some discussion questions on their blog, from the erudite musings about a book title inspired by an Emily Dickinson poem, to enthusiastic gossip about the nature of family secrets (“Which family secret,” asks one question, “did you enjoy the most?”)

Literary Gossip & News

Buy Local

Her ladyship recently attended the Atlanta Spring Book Show, where she noted that booksellers seemed to divide their time between discussions of the dismal nature of the current economy, and the creating of partnerships amongst area independent merchants to promote their local towns and businesses.  “Buy Local” we are often told, is sound advice when one is buying one’s dinner. It is also excellent advice when buying food for the mind.

One of the most recent initiatives in this movement comes from Burke’s Bookstore in Memphis, TN, which is co-sponsoring the Cooper Young Night Out series with other merchants in their historic neighborhood district. “From the corner of Central and Cooper to the corner of Cooper and Young and beyond, over 18 restaurants and 25 retail shops will be offering special menus, discounts, live music, art and more for your browsing pleasure.”

In a slightly different vein, Bound to be Read Books in Atlanta is part of the Bioneers Southeast Forum from April 11-13, designed to “bring together the best minds and movements in metro Atlanta, in a local effort to forge our new vision for a better future for our community.” The forum engages participant on topics as diverse (and connected) as social marketing, sustainable transportation, local foods and economies, socially responsible business leadership, the emerging water crisis, and politics and art.

News of a literary nature

Robert Ruark, often referred to as “the poor man’s Hemingway” (although it will forever be in question as to who was the better shot), is the subject of a new memoir Ruark Remembered. There is a lovely essay from Toni Morrison in the New York Times blog “Paper Cuts” about a reunion with the Ohio and Alabama sides of the family.

The annual meeting of the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Society is nigh, and thus it will surprise no one that the organization is in the midst of a membership drive. Her ladyship finds herself vastly amused at the various reasons they put forth in favor of joining its ranks:  “Remember that seventh grade English teacher and the librarian that would ruffle your hair and shake their heads sadly?  .....  Make them smile and nod like bobble-headed dolls.   Make Mom and Dad proud ... wherever they are.  Pad your resume!   Liven up a boring obituary!   Add a tombstone footnote!   Even an ex-love will think of you in a new light when they learn you have joined a literary society.” Her ladyship finds the requested thirty dollars a small price in return for such a gratifying moment of levity. You may join here: http://www.marjoriekinnanrawlings.ucf.edu/

Of Cats

And finally, it is with sadness that her ladyship notes the passing of Miss Kitty, the store cat who took up residence in City Lights Bookstore in Sylvia, NC, at first only as a temporary guest, but as the booksellers at City Lights will tell you cats have a most delightful way of adopting themselves into your home.  “. . .Miss Kitty became such a favorite with everyone at the store and with our many cat-loving customers that anyone who had tried to take her home would have had a serious custody battle on their hands.” wrote Joyce Moore in a recent letter informing her customers and friends of Miss Kitty of the sad news.

Recommended by Your Neighborhood Southern Booksellers

The Marriage of True Minds by Stephen Evans (Unbridled, $14.95) is a wonderful little idyll (maybe that should be a capital I). In a busy world with many dire distractions, this little book is a great way to while away a warm afternoon in a hammock. Funny and politically green, this short novel chronicles the post marriage dissolution period in the lives of two lawyers in Minneapolis. The dialogue crackles like an old Tracy and Hepburn script. I heartily recommend this paperback original! –Keebe Fitche, McIntyre’s Books, Pittsboro, NC

The Romanov Bride, by Robert Alexander (Viking, $24.95) "Revolutionary Russia is the setting for this novel of love, loss, and redemption. Robert Alexander's third Romanov novel examines the tragic lives of a young revolutionary and the widowed duchess, Elisavyeta. Adeptly presented with alternating points of view, readers will be intrigued to discover the compelling drama of one of Russia's lesser-known historical figures. Heartily recommended." --Dave Lederer, Vero Beach Book Center, Vero Beach, FL

From the SIBA Book Award Nomination List

Poetry: Out of the Garden by Kathryn Kirkpatrick (Mayapple Press, $14.95)
Kathryn Kirkpatrick's most recent collection of poetry, Out of the Garden (Mayapple Press) is excellent, with blurbs from Kathryn Stripling Byer (NC Poet Laureate) and Ron Rash. Her poems are vibrant, emotional, and dynamic and leave the reader with striking images that conjure the complexities of human relationships. Her first collection of poetry, The Body's Horizon, won the North Carolina Poetry Society's Brockman Campbell Award. She holds a Ph. D in Interdisciplinary Studies from Emory University and currently is professor of English at Appalachian State University. ~Appalachian State University Bookstore

Nonfiction: Jim Limber Davis: A Black Orphan in the Confederate White House by Rickey Pittman
This true story of a black orphan will awaken in you an immediate love and concern for this child known as Jim Limber Davis. Never have I seen a Children's title presented so well on a subject that most of us would just soon forget. It will stir curiosity of those days gone by as well as a search for the lost child known as Jim Limber Davis. ~Cherry Books

Fiction: Stray by Sheri Joseph (MacAdam Cage, $ 25)
Sheri Joseph's Stray tells the story of Paul, his married lover, Kent, and Kent's wife, Maggie. This tale of lust, obsession, and love leading to murder is an intense psychological thriller. Set in Atlanta, it explores the complexities of sexuality and love as each of the main characters struggle with their love for the others. It combines the best elements of a character driven "literary" novel with the page-turning intensity of a crime thriller. ~Outwrite Bookstore Atlanta Georgia

The Book of Marie by Terry Kay (Mercer University Press, $ 23)
Terry Kay is THE master of southern literature. He does it again with his best work to date (excluding To Dance With the White Dog, which is, classic). In The Book of Marie, the turbulent years of the early 60's are brought sharply into focus with an issue that is difficult to comprehend - teaching black children to read - and the uproar is causes in the lives of those who support that. Marie, a transplant to the South, challenges the old ways, shining the light of truth in an area where lives are lived by rote and tradition. Her effect on the individuals of this sleepy southern town is in turn refreshing and challenging. Kay successfully brings us into the town and the lives of the characters with empathy and without blame. It's rather like looking into a kaleidoscope, a unique design only understood when the pieces fall into place. ~FoxTale Book Shoppe

Bookseller Blogs

100 Books in 2008: Eat food. Not processed crap.

“. . . What lies behind Pollan’s punchy slogan that’s printed on the book cover and which will be getting repeated many times this year (”Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”) is the idea that food itself is a system whose interactions with our bodies are incredibly complex, and therefore that trying to reduce any food to the sum of its parts is folly. As the rates of obesity and diabetes rise, it becomes increasingly clear that something in our nutritional thinking is flawed. Pollan doesn’t find all the answers, as he would be the first to admit, but he does suggest some means of improvement. Do not, for example, eat anything your grandmother wouldn’t recognize. Don’t eat anything that claims to have added nutrients to make it better. In short, eat food. Not processed crap. Food.” Read more

Fiction Addiction: For everyone in mourning because  Robert Jordan will never write another book… “Those looking for a new epic fantasy series can rejoice at the publication of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (DAW, paperback, $7.99), the first book in a trilogy. Told in the first person, we learn of the early life of legendary Kvothe — orphan, genius, magician, bard, and king killer. . .” Read more

Consuming Books: Can Hosseini write a bad book? The man is incredible. The winners of the 2008 Book Sense Book of the Year Awards are voted by the owners and staff of American Booksellers Association member bookstores. Fiction:  A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead/Penguin)  A Thousand Splendid Suns went back to press almost daily its first week on sale, building to 1,255,000 copies in print in the U.S. . .read more

Little Shop of Stories: When you’re good at being bad. . .

“Okay, so the middle school guys book group is reading H.I.V.E, by Mark Walden. It's all about Otto, a kid who's good at being bad, and how he's kidnapped by this school for budding villainous types (H.I.V.E. stands for Higher Institute of Villainous Education) to train him in the ways of trickery, hack-ery, and overall villainy. Only, Otto is having none of it. So he spends the book getting together a team of like-minded kids to help him bust out of the school, located on an isolated volcanic island, and escape the computer traps, monsters, and deadly assassins. . .” read more

A Reading Life: In which Nicki Leone  confesses to book neglect in the first degree, (surely a felony if one’s library contains over 5000 volumes?)

“. . .although I accumulate books, and although I’d rather be reading them than doing almost—almost!—anything else, I am a very poor keeper—a fact that was brought home to me one day when a message-board discussion turned to the usefulness of book jackets. Much to my shock, I discovered most of these folks were very particular about their books—that those who eschewed hardcovers often did so not just because of the prices, but because the covers tended to get worn. Those who avoided paperbacks had similar motivations about bindings. Some actually covered their book jackets in shiny plastic protection. Some removed the jackets altogether lest they become ripped or bent. Sometimes people even took the jackets off while reading, and then carefully replaced them.

I was suddenly glad that this discussion was happening online, behind the relative anonymity of the Internet, instead of, say in my living room, where all my reading sins were on such brilliantly lit display. . .” Read more

Wordsmiths Books Blog: So you want to move a bookstore. . .
“240 boxes of books averaging 30 lbs a piece.  68 Bookcases.  12 chairs and 2 couches.  3 Point of Sales counters.  Various fixtures that may very well have rolled but were no less heavy.  Magazines, journals, bookmarks, comic books and more.  A stage that was one piece at an 8 by 8 size that is now 2 pieces of 4 by 4.  Music/Sound Board/Mic system and 4 computers.  1 AJC article and a hit on Decatur Metro.  Were it not for a crippled Marketing Director mocking my fatigue (while he was comfortably, sort of, resting on crutches I might add) I would still be lying there.. . .” read more

Lady Banks’ Commonplace Book

Fishermen At Fairhope

Paint me a poem in dull gold
Just as the sky was then—
A black boat, and in it, barelegged
Two fishermen.

Shining and soundless the trawling
Of their lines in the quiet bay:
And the day burning dim behind its veils
Of gauze gray.

Give no moon, gibbous and bloody,
Not sun with a brazen glare,
But that dawn, and those mist-covered figures
And peace there.

--Frances R. Durham from Whatever Remembers Us: An Anthology of Alabama Poetry, edited by Sue Brannan Walker and J. William Chamber

literati mundi meridianus americanus